In recent years, interest in image analysis has grown considerably across a number of industries. For example, in the medical field, image analysis has been used to detect tumors and other foreign bodies within an organism. In another example, security systems now use image analysis for facial recognition, the detection of suspicious packages, etc. In yet another example, tollbooths and parking garages are often equipped with license plate readers that are able to identify the license plate of a vehicle from an image of that vehicle.
Inclement weather can be highly damaging to property such as residential and commercial buildings, vehicles, and the like. For example, hail storms alone are the leading cause of property damage in the United States, with over 5,000 major hail storms typically occurring each year. Other examples of inclement weather that can result in property damage may also include wind, rain, snow, and ice, as well as severe storm conditions such as hurricanes and tornadoes.
After the occurrence of a storm, assessing weather-related damage to buildings, vehicles, etc., is a potentially dangerous and error-prone activity. In particular, assessing roof damage to a building may require an inspector to physically climb onto the roof and take pictures of the damage. In doing so, this exposes the inspector to potential injury, such as when proper safety procedures are not followed. Further, there is no guarantee that this process will correctly assess the extent of the damage and/or the type of the damage.
In the figures, reference numbers refer to the same or equivalent parts of the present invention throughout the several figures of the drawing.